BOOKS AND BRIDES MIX IT UP IN DENVER

The March 3-4 Rocky Mountain Book Festival was a lively affair, a nice blend of book fair, readings, and panel presentations.

While writers and readers waxed literary at the Merchandise Mart Annex, brides and bride wannabes stampeded into the Merchandise Mart Convention Center next door to hear the latest news in gowns and various wedding accoutrements. (This year's hottest accessory: white his-and-hers cell phones.)

I began my book fest jaunt on Sunday watching a production of "Peter and the Wolf" by the Colorado Radio Players. My daughter Annie camped out on my lap as we watched the players recreate the Russian woods using just their voices and sound effects. Next up was a session squishing brains at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science booth. "Real brains are even squishier" said one of the Museum's staffers, offering us the plastic-wrapped faux brain. "Your brain has a lot more water." I knew that was true in my case. From there, we moved on to see African-American storyteller donnie betts and a talk by Ann Nagda about her animal-oriented children's books.

At noon, we ventured out into the sunshine and picnicked on the grass in front of the Merchandise Mart and watched as a constant stream of brides-to-be trooped into the bridal fair next door (it was the annual "books 'n' brides weekend" in Denver). I was a bit disappointed to see that the big bridal extravaganza was definitely a bigger draw than the book fest. But now that I'm reaching my dotage, I take these things in stride, cursing only now and then at passers-by.

In the afternoon, I ditched my family to catch some of the panel discussions, including one on the annual Willa Cather writing awards and another about "Women Writing the Wilderness" moderated by Sundance author Page Lambert. It was a great session, featuring a preview of the film based on the book "Writing Down the River" that documents a Colorado River rafting trip by a group of women that included Lambert, Linda Ellerbee, and Denise Chavez. The film, written and produced by Seattle's Kathleen Jo Ryan, has already aired on public television in Colorado and will be aired throughout the West. I experienced a brief bout of intergender jealousy as I watched the women run the rapids and cavort in the mud. Why is it that grown women can look fulfilled getting in touch with their wild selves while men just look like goofs playing in the mud?

Later, I made the rounds of the book fair in an attempt to spend my children's inheritance. I was pleased to see Linda Hasselstrom and Gaydell Collier at the High Plains Press booth. "Woven On the Wind," the latest anthology from the Hasselstrom/Collier/Curtis triumvirate, will be release from Houghton-Mifflin May 1. Greybull's Annette Chaudet and Cody expatriate Jo Massie staffed the booth shared by Rocky Mountain Press and Pronghorn Press, both new publishers in Wyoming. I bought new books by Russell Martin ("Beethoven's Hair"), Margaret Coel ("Spirit Woman") and wise-guy sports writer Rick Reilly. I bought my daughter a T-shirt that read "Quit Whining and Read" and my son a pile of sci-fi books at the Tattered Cover booth and an anthology of teen writing (he plans to be in the next issue).

As we drove off into the sunset hauling a trailer full of new books and assorted wedding supplies, I mulled over the day's experiences. I made a few mental notes: 1. Wyoming has some great writers who work hard to expose their work to the world; 2. Literature is both a creative and a commercial field; you have to write and read, but you also must buy books to support fellow writers; 3. If each person attending the Denver Bridal Fair bought a wedding dress, then came next door to the RMBF to buy a book, writers would be happier (and brides would too). 4. Now that most of our surrounding states have book festivals, is it time for one in Wyoming?